79 House Democrats Vote To Keep Afghanistan War Going On Even Longer

For quite some time now, the majority of Americans has supported an end to the war in Afghanistan. The war is almost eleven years old now, and the goal of defeating the Taliban is no closer now than it was during the first year of the war.

In order to deal with this problem, U.S. Representative Barbara Lee proposed an amendment to H.R. 4310, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2013. The Lee amendment, if passed, would have prohibited the military for spending any money in Afghanistan except for on non-combat humanitarian activities, and on activities leading to the withdrawal of American military forces from the country.

The amendment did not pass. In spite of the fact that most Americans want the U.S. military to leave Afghanistan, 303 members of the U.S. House voted against Lee’s amendment of military withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan. Only 113 representatives voted in favor.

A slim majority of House Democrats, 53%, voted for the amendment to end the war in Afghanistan. 42% joined the House Republicans to keep the Afghanistan war going on even longer, without any end in sight.